


To Suspect

by MCUsic_to_my_ears



Series: DID Doesn't Mean Undone [1]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Incredible Hulk (Comics)
Genre: #coulsonlives, Altered Mental States, Amnesia, Anxiety, Awesome Phil Coulson, Brian Banner's A+ Parenting, Bruce Banner Feels, Bruce Banner Has Issues, Bruce Banner Needs a Hug, Confessions, Confrontations, Confused Steve Rogers, Confusion, Coping, Dissociation, Dissociative Identity Disorder, Fear, Fluff, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Jarvis (Iron Man movies) is a Good Bro, Light Angst, Natasha Romanov Is Not A Robot, Natasha Romanov Is a Good Bro, Panic, Protective Bruce Banner, Protective Clint Barton, Protective Jarvis (Iron Man movies), Protective Natasha Romanov, Secrets, Sneaky Jarvis (Iron Man movies), Steve Rogers Is a Good Bro, Thor Is Not Stupid, Thor Is a Good Bro, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony Stark Is a Good Bro, Unhealthy Coping Mechanisms
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-17
Updated: 2017-07-17
Packaged: 2018-12-03 05:13:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 6,094
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11525268
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MCUsic_to_my_ears/pseuds/MCUsic_to_my_ears
Summary: The rest of the Avengers start to notice something... different about Bruce. They confront him about it.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Be aware: I do not have DID. I do not personally know anyone with DID (or if I do, they haven't told me/I haven't recognized it). I am also not a psychologist, psychiatrist, therapist or counselor of any sort. But, I do put an unorthodox amount of research into any of my works. I have watched countless videos of people who do live with DID, I've read the literal DSM to make sure I'm getting this right. I've looked into the causes of DID's symptoms in the brain and their outer expression.   
> And if all of this still leaves me with shortfalls that you, the reader who knows more than me, recognizes, then please tell me so that I can adapt the story to account for that.   
> (Although I should note that DID is different for everyone and I might've chosen to not, for instance, have NPCs in the Inner World, even though I'm aware that it's a possibility.)   
> Finally, if you want to learn more about DID, please ask me and I can either explain something to the best of my ability or send you somewhere that does a better job.   
> Thank you so much for reading! I hope this is educational as it is entertaining!

Tony decided that Bruce had the ability to out science him. It wasn’t that the physicist was smarter than him, even if he was in certain areas of science-dom. It was that Bruce could get into the science zone like none other. He could completely block out the billionaire while working, going as far as not knowing Tony’d been standing next to him for seconds, several minutes, and one time even a whole hour, even as he was clattering around in his own side of the lab. And he figured that hyper-focus was an asset since Pepper was always getting on Tony about the necessity of finishing one project before getting onto the next. Bruce got into the science zone almost every other day from what Tony could tell, and he only did it in the lab, which was a given. 

The physicist was bland though when he was in the science zone. He didn’t have his normal wit or (bad) pun-ability, which Tony found disappointing, but that loss paled in comparison to the hole usually filled by of his dry humor. It was odd though because sometimes Bruce would lack those in the kitchen or somewhere else that science wasn’t at all required, like a linen closet, which Tony hadn't even known he'd owned before he'd seen Bruce in it. It made Tony a little worried because Bruce would get distracted and distant, which was the gateway to restlessness and discomfort and _that_ was the gateway to running. And Tony most definitely didn’t want Bruce to run, not at his or the team’s expense. It made the engineer wonder if Bruce was just uncomfortable with the other Avengers or outside of the lab, and if that was the reason he stayed pretty well hidden away, either in his bedroom with the elevator locked down so it was impossible to stop on his floor, or with Tony in the man cave that was the lab. But currently, Tony had more pressing things to worry about, as Bruce was acting weirder than normal. Like, he had dropped further into the science zone than Tony’s thought possible.

“Hey buddy, whatcha looking for?” he asked, walking in on Bruce spread out on the floor, flipping feverishly through a physics textbook. Several others were flipped open around him. He didn’t look up at Tony’s greeting or his swaggering approach.

Tony watched him for a bit longer, waiting for Bruce to wind down, when suddenly, Bruce looked away from the thick book he had and fumbled around for a pen to jot down an equation into a half-filled spiral notebook that he seemed to always have with him. The doctor jumped to his feet, leaving all of the textbooks scattered about the floor. He had a look of hard set determination on his face.

Following Bruce over to his desk, Tony tried again to elicit a response once again. “So what is it for?” he questioned excitedly. 

Bruce grimaced, looking up from his watch and clutching the notebook tightly to his chest with his other hand. "When did you get in here?" he asked. He smoothed his notebook as he set it onto his desk. He logged into his computer with slightly shaking hands but stayed on his feet.

"I've been here for like five minutes, Lima Bean," the engineer replied skeptically. Bruce glanced back at him, his mouth making a small ‘O’.

“Sorry, I was… distracted. Trying to find this.” He gestured toward the haphazard piles of books that he didn’t seem bothered by, even though Tony had seen him fixing his bookshelves for hours because one or two things were out of place. “I wasn’t really paying attention.” He shrugged nonchalantly, but his voice wavered. He started rifling through his desk until he pulled out a pen and a daily planner.

Tony smiled, moving over to lean up against Bruce’s desk while its owner flitted about, “I get you, man.”

“Yeah, I’m sure,” Bruce murmured, the words lacking his usual biting sarcasm. Instead, he just shooed him away without looking up. Tony humored him, padding over to his side of their shared lab, satisfied that Bruce’s science zone was just a little more intense earlier and that he was fine now. If Bruce wasn’t in a good headspace, he wouldn’t have made Tony leave, he reasoned. Bruce could get clingy if he was upset.

Bruce typed furiously on his laptop now that Tony was gone, Tony realized, and from his angle, he could tell that JARVIS was the one replying, since the AI had his own text box. Tony wondered vaguely why Bruce wasn’t just asking JARVIS out loud, but he figured his fellow scientist just wanted written answers so he wouldn’t have to copy it down himself. Tony had done that once or twice in the past. Laziness was a powerful motivator after all.

Bruce scribbled something down into a daily planner that Tony’d never seen before. He swore that he saw Bruce write 11:48-12:03 with the words ‘ _Doc Green-- research_ ’ next to it as he passed by to grab a couple wrenches from storage. The words got highlighted in purple on his way back to his side of the lab before Bruce placed the planner back in his desk drawer.

Tony never saw the planner again, but he didn’t really think it was that important.


	2. Chapter 2

Thor being on world was a bit of a rarity. Between problems on Asgard due to Loki's imprisonment and the issues in the other realms as they came closer to the Convergence, he had little time to visit and help on his protectorate, Earth. He worked to split his time equally between Jane and Darcy and Eric in London and with the Avengers in the Tower on the few occasions he was on their planet. When he was able to be in New York, it was unlikely that there would be a battle to attend, so he spent much time in the company of the team watching movies, eating meals and speaking candidly with them.

On one of his last days in the Tower before he was needed back for meetings on Asgard in the late summer, Thor, Tony, and Bruce were watching _The Butcher’s Wife_ , a romantic comedy or ‘rom com’ as described by their hyperactive genius. It was quite odd, and Thor was not aware that Earth too had Seers, but Tony and Bruce seemed to think the entire situation was comedic.

A loud buzzing brought Thor out of the fictitious New York streets back into the living room of the real New York.

“What’s up, Pep?” Tony asked, pulling his phone to his ear and standing. The man in the ceiling paused the movie as he walked into the kitchen area and both Thor and Bruce turned to watch Tony speak with his dearest one.

There was muffled talking on the other end, then the engineer replied, "Okay. Yeah. Fuck. Just- don't let anyone touch anything or 'fix' anything. Just wait for me to get there. Don't go further on any deals until we get this fixed, I'm on my way now," the engineer ordered, disappearing down the hallway.  

Bruce and Thor looked at each other. It seemed that whenever he and the usually soft-spoken man were alone, Thor was always at odds with the good doctor.

He hoped this would not be one of those times. Bruce gave him a gentle smile and shifted uncomfortably. "I don't think he's coming back anytime soon. I guess we should just watch the rest now," he reasoned casually, motioning at the frozen TV screen.

Thor grinned, "True words, my brother, we shall!"

JARVIS began to play the last thirty minutes of the movie at their consensus.

Bruce laughed at some joke that Thor didn't understand, but his persona soon darkened. He wrapped his arms around himself, mouth forming a firm frown. He grew irritable, not with Thor originally, but soon it spilled over until it collided with the god.

The movie finished and that seemed enough for the doctor to solidify his anger.

"Goodbye, dear friend," Thor remarked as he folded his blanket, cleaning up his seat, mindful of the workers in the Tower.

Bruce scoffed at him, leaving the area he'd been sitting in alone and walking to the stairwell.

At least he hadn't shouted at the alien to keep his distance this time.

Sadly, or possibly thankfully, it hadn't always been like this between the two. When he'd just moved in, Bruce had been the one who worked to explain the idiosyncrasies of his planet to Thor without copious amounts of sarcasm. But small changes in behavior like this portrayed a Bruce who was fracturing a little bit each day.

The god sought Bruce out before breakfast the next day, using the elevator to get down to the laboratories. The other genius was still away, dealing with the issue Miss. Potts had contacted him about the day before.

The doctor was buzzing around the lab, cleaning it furiously. There were several empty containers of Clorox wipes, an item with which Thor had quickly grown familiar with due to the unbelievably breakable objects Earth managed to produce. Bruce was a bit on the manic side, but Thor figured since their engineer could get the same way, there was nothing to worry about.

"Is something the matter?" he asked, genuinely concerned. Bruce startled, looking up from the bookshelf he was wiping down. “Shit,” he cursed under his breath. "Or was it just happenstance that I took the brunt end of your anger?" He spoke confrontationally, but truthfully, but not without an awareness of his friend's feelings. The god was not angry, simply confused. That was not a state of being he preferred.

Bruce shifted uncomfortably, eyes pointed to the floor. “No, sorry. Nothing’s wrong. He- I was just in a bad mood yesterday and you ended up being my punching bag. It’s nothing, it was my fault, not yours and I just- Sorry," he stumbled over his words, breath stuttering anxiously.

“'Tis nothing, dear friend," Thor beamed, glad this was not a threat to their relationship. "We all have days of antagonism,” he assured. The god did his best to appease the man, but the scientist seemed so out of his mind, so trapped in his own world. He seemed stuck to be only apologetic. But as long as he was not angry with Thor, it was no matter to the warrior.

Bruce gave him a wavering smile. “I really hate it when, uh, I get like that.”

"It's in the past, think nothing of it. Emotions have a way of drowning out logic," Thor remarked. Bruce shrugged, unsure how to respond. “It looks nice in here, well cared for, as a place of work should be,” he commented conversationally, looking around at the lemon scented room.

"Thank you," the doctor murmured. When the god turned to exit, satisfied that he and Bruce were no longer at odds, the latter asked softly, “Could you please knock next time you come in?”

Thor nodded, confused. He had knocked. Bruce had even motioned him in.

As Thor excited, he could feel Bruce withdraw, taking himself back into his mind. He cleaned and worked until the day turned and Thor exited the Tower. They would not speak again for many months.


	3. Chapter 3

The whole team was usually called out once a month. Bruce was always required to come if the other five (or four if Thor was off-world) were, even if he wasn’t being asked to Hulk out. That was only necessary about every third time they all went out, and both Bruce and Steve had veto power if they thought Hulk would do more harm than good.

Bruce had a certain ritual when he came back to himself after Hulking out, and for some reason this time he wasn’t following it.

Normally, the doctor woke up, grabbed at whoever was near him (he’d scared several S.H.I.E.L.D. agents that way) and asked them if he’d hurt anyone. After he got his answer, his body would attempt to expel the contents of his stomach, which was generally just bile as the Hulk usually burned through everything he had consumed before then. Once he was done, whoever found him first would take him back to the Quinjet and wrap him up in a soft blanket, give him a protein bar and a water bottle and hope he’d sleep. But Bruce was following none of his usual protocols and it was freaking Clint out.

He was already awake when the archer got there. In fact, Bruce was on his feet and trying to push past a group or police officers. He seemed beyond irritated and was walking away from the battlefield, away from his fellow Avengers and away from his ride home.

“Hey Doc, where you heading?” the agent asked, coming up behind him and grabbing the physicist’s shoulder.

Bruce lurched himself out of Clint’s grasp, nearly growling. “I got it,” Clint assured, holding up his hands in a non-threatening manner, so Bruce would see he meant no harm if he turned around to face the agent. “No touching.” It was no secret that Bruce had a weird relationship with touch. Sometimes he would be curled up with Tony or Steve, even Nat, during a movie night, feet up in Clint’s lap, but every once in awhile, Bruce couldn’t stand hands on him. He could claw and bite his way out of anyone’s grip if he was upset enough, so Clint wanted to respect his space for both their safety.

“But we’ve got to head back to the jet now,” he asserted. Bruce pushed Clint further from himself, his shoulders hunched. He looked desperate and that made him dangerous.

Clint attempted to shepherd the doctor backward, away from the officers since he was acting so volatile, completely unlike his normal, placating self. ”Bruce, man, what’s wrong?” he asked seriously. “Hulk didn’t do anything bad and I don’t get-”

“Get the fuck away from me!” Bruce shouted, voice deeper than normal, trying to push away from the Quinjet they were rapidly approaching.

The agent held fast, continuing to press Bruce forward without touching him. “No can do, Doc.” He’d finally backed Bruce into the jet. “We really have to stay in here now,” he reminded the doctor as he attempted to exit the jet. The back would stay open until everyone had boarded _and_ they got the go-ahead from S.H.I.E.L.D. to leave the area.

“Look,” Clint sighed, “We’ll be back at the Tower soon, so if you could stop being pissed off for like, half an hour, you could let the Big Guy out again in his safe room,” he promised.

“I don’t need to ‘ _Hulk out_ ,’” Bruce sneered, mocking the phrase. It was the first time that the archer had heard Bruce use those words since he was practically allergic to the _word_ ‘Hulk.’ But there were more pressing things at hand than an analysis of the physicist’s speech patterns. “I need to- Fucking shit get away from me,” he continued, interrupting himself when Clint took a small step into the doctor’s space.

He strategically moved back. “What do you need?” he asked patiently.

All of the sudden Bruce’s mildly violent body language was calm and even, and he’d sat himself down cross-legged, leaning back against the cool walls of the Quinjet, his head down in his hands. “Please just be quiet for a moment,” he requested softly. He started touching his neck, almost subconsciously, as if checking for a necklace that wasn’t there, and- as far as Clint knew- never had been there.

The agent respected his wishes, moving quietly to accommodate him as he placed a water bottle and granola bar to the right for Bruce. The doctor had his head down, one hand shuffling around his neck, seemingly deep in thought. He started to bite at his knuckles not really paying attention. It was interesting since Clint had never seen Bruce use that coping mechanism when he was in distress. The doctor was more likely to clean his glasses, pick at his nails, run his fingers through his hair. It wasn’t that it was impossible for Bruce to learn new quirks, it was just unlikely since the man thrived in routine. The kind that he still _wasn’t following_.

Tony climbed into the jet, having gotten out of the suit in a mobile de-armoring truck. “Hey gang, you know where everyone else is?” he asked.

“I don’t, but we’re having quiet time right now, so,” Clint said in a low voice. He held a finger up to his lips and gave Tony a hard look. The engineer smiled widely, miming locking his mouth shut and throwing away the key. But he still mouthed ‘ _Okay?’_ and jerking his head towards Bruce. Clint shrugged. The doctor started picking at, but not opening, the wrapper of his granola bar, oblivious to the conversation going on above him.

Tony reached over and opened it for him before heading up to the cock pick of the jet and interfacing with JARVIS quietly.

Soon, the entire team, minus Thor, was aboard. The Captain got off the phone with some S.H.I.E.L.D. agent that Clint hadn’t bothered familiarizing himself with since she wouldn’t survive being the Avenger’s liaison for longer than a week. Steve told them they were good to move out. Bruce grabbed Clint’s hand as they took off, clenching it tightly until they were at cruising altitude. Even then, he looked way more anxious than he normally did.

“You good now?”

Bruce shrugged, wrapping his arms around himself and started to fall asleep. Clint’s mouth quirked into a smile, glad to see the team’s unofficial mascot finally relaxed.


	4. Chapter 4

"Bruce?"

The doctor spun around, his eyes peeking up to meet the assassin's.

"Everything okay?"

Having just gotten back from a bloody mission, Natasha was only on the lab floors to return a broken Widow Bite before she went to sleep. Clint was already passed out in his own room and she hadn't seen Tony or Steve on the common floors, where they would sometimes stay up and watch movies, waiting for their spies to return. So Natasha hadn't expected to see anyone else, especially since it was four in the morning New York time. But there was the Tower's resident physicist coasting the halls without any indication of knowing either of them was there. He was running his fingers along the walls, seeming more withdrawn than he normally was. He looked almost surprised every time his skin made contact with the hard drywall, like he wasn't used to physical touch.

But the doctor nodded at her quickly, which already felt like a lie. He snapped his hands up close to his chest as if he'd just been caught doing something against the rules. "I'm fine," he murmured, sounding younger than she'd ever heard. Natasha supposed it could be due to his tired eyes and drooping shoulders, but something else about him seemed off. Like he was in someone else's body and he wasn't quite sure how to maneuver it yet, like he was learning how to drive. She'd seen him like that a few times after transforming into the Hulk, but Tony usually texted her when important stuff like that happened. And Bruce's apparent exhaustion seemed a bit more mental than physical this time around. Otherwise, he probably would be asleep for the next few hours or days, depending on the amount of damage Hulk had done to the doctor's slight body, how much energy he'd stolen.  

"How long have you been down here, Bruce? It's pretty late. Or early, at this point." She gave him a soft smile that held a small amount of mischief in it. She hoped that would be enough to draw him out of his shell.

Shrugging anxiously, Bruce hugged his arms around himself, a small frown pulling at his soft face, not noticing the underlying meaning in her eyes. He fled further into his mind with those actions, she realized. "I dunno," he answered earnestly. He seemed troubled, frightened even, by the implications of his ignorance.

To her, it didn't seem like big of a deal. He and Tony would work every second of the day if given the chance. Steve had probably given up on trying to get them to leave the lab while she and Clint were gone, and she knew that time flew for the boys when they were occupied by something fascinating.

"That's fine," she assured him quietly. "Is there something you were working on?" Natasha asked, looking over his shoulder back through the clear lab walls and doors. They were only there to act as a barrier in case something decided to blow up 'without them knowing it was going to happen.' Tony's words, not her own.

"Do you want me to grab Tony?" she continued when Bruce didn’t respond. The spy wasn't sure if he was acting so docile and closed off because of a mental health issue, like a nightmare that was sucking the words out of him, or if he was just in need of sleep.

Bruce flinched at the mention of his self-proclaimed science bro, his fingers gripping his biceps. "Or maybe not," she amended, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. She tried to ignore the hardened blood. "You looking for something down here?" she tried again. His purpose of wandering the normally deserted floor was so beyond her that she wasn't entirely convinced that it existed. Bruce looked so vulnerable when he looked back up at her, so lost in his own head. She wanted nothing more than to draw him out into the present so that he could see it was okay now and at the very least it would continue to be okay in the future. That she would make sure of it and so would everyone else in this Tower they all called home.

But she couldn't. Not when Bruce was completely unreceptive to her questions and platitudes. Maybe she could attempt to be a bit more than skin deep, but he seemed to be shutting down the conversation faster than she could work to keep it afloat. And wasn't that a feat.

"No, I'm..." Bruce seemed so out of place, so disoriented in the lab all of the sudden. He looked like a ghost in the body that could evict him if it was deemed fit. Natasha knew that the Hulk was a separate person from Bruce, that he existed with his own body that transitioned into and took up the void Bruce's, but God, when the empty genius looked this dissociated, it stung. It seemed so unfair to him.

And she wasn't entirely sure what to do, how to heal that hurt. Bruce had always been such a mystery and his face gave away nothing other than a deep pain and years old grief, which was probably more than his expression normally gave away. She wasn't sure how to help him anymore. Her usual method was distraction and he had already seemed to take care of that for himself, just with the wrong grievances.

"It's okay if you're upset," Natasha reminded him evenly. Bruce shook his head sadly, as if that may be true for her, but not for him. As if he was alone in the world. And maybe he was in that moment.

"How about you come with me. I've got to put these away," she held up the Widow Bites, her real purpose momentarily forgotten in attempt to help her teammate. "But after that, I'll take you up to your room. You'll feel better after you get some sleep," she promised. Natasha tried to emanate a sort of sisterly love that she wasn't sure Bruce would know how to interpret or process. But it felt appropriate, despite that fact that a lot of his normal emotional intelligence seemed offline at the moment. He smiled sadly at the agent, before sliding away, seemingly moving toward the elevator, not reacting to her solemn advice.

"Goodbye, Dr. Banner," she called, falling back on the teasing nickname, that wasn't so much a nickname as it was a sarcastic rendition of his title, in an attempt to get him to smile.

It seemed to have the opposite effect on a man who so hard worked to take nothing without a grain of salt and a, usually inappropriately timed, smirk.   

Bruce whipped around with a speed she didn't think he had in him, especially not with his previously shaking movements. "Don't call me that," he ordered darkly, voice stronger than she'd ever heard since he'd moved into the Tower. "That's my dad. I'm _not_ my father." He sounded unbelievably hurt suddenly, like she had just ripped out his integrity and ability and heart and discredited it, burned it in front of him. He looked like the air had been knocked out of him and tears were collecting in his eyes, threatening to spill over. He looked broken open by her words and emotion overflowed, but she still couldn't get a read on a man she'd known for months.

"I'm sorry, Bruce," she whispered, trying to take back all the pain she caused him and sew closed the gaping wound where his heart should have been.

He took a shuddering breath, eyes never leaving her own, before he backed himself into the door for the stairs, eye contact finally wavering. He glanced at her one more time, unwiped tears streaming down his face, before pushing the door open and leaving her in the frigid labs.

She could faintly hear the clear ringing of JARVIS's vaguely electronic voice saying something in the stairwell. She hoped the AI was doing something to help their estranged physicist. God knew she had nothing left to offer him.


	5. Chapter 5

The week after they learned that Coulson was still alive and that he was going to their permanent S.H.I.E.L.D. liaison, Steve and Bruce were talking about modern art. Steve wanted to pretend that it was just a way to pass the time, but he knew that, at least for himself, he was using their conversation as a distraction from Coulson. While Clint had been ecstatic that his former handler was alive and working with them, Steve had felt a little bit like he was drowning. Even if he had come back from the dead, it didn’t necessarily mean that it was normal for him. Resurrection shouldn’t be anyone’s status quo, except maybe the Lord’s.

Bruce had stiffened a little when he found out but seemed more concerned with how manic Tony was getting, carting him away to their lab. Steve wondered how he was really feeling. Bruce’s mind was like a steel trap. Anything could go in, and most things did, but not much had a chance of making its way out.

However, Bruce seemed to have quite the opinion of Jackson Pollock. And that’s how they ended up crouched around a computer screen comparing _The Deep_ to _Convergence_.

“I just feel like the contrasts in  _The Deep_ are more symbolically powerful than the apparent story in _Convergence,_ ” Bruce explained, his voice lighter than normal, but it had been like that since breakfast, so Steve hardly batted an eye.

“Not sure I agree with you, but maybe if I could see them in person… I’m not sure if _The Deep_ is actually symbolic of anything. I think it’s just there,” Steve retorted. Bruce continued to stare straight at the two paintings, deep in thought, and then, it seemed, through the two paintings and off into an abyss. He seemed to have spaced out for a moment.

Then he blinked at Steve and around at the soldier’s office, as if not sure what it was or how he’d gotten there. “What’?” he asked, his voice slightly deeper, but less commanding, than before.

The captain ran a hand through his hair, clearly frustrated. “In _The Deep,_ it’s like there’s just a crack in a wall. It’s not necessarily profound.”

“Oh.” Bruce squinted that the paintings as if he’d never seen it before. “Right,” he fumbled, “I guess.”

“Really?” Steve asked, incredulous. “You were _just_ saying that it was bigger than the painting itself.”

Bruce pulled off his glasses and started cleaning them. “Yeah. It’s just… It feels like this one-” he pointed to the more colorful painting on the right side of the computer screen.

“ _Convergence?_ ” Steve supplied.

“Yeah, _Convergence._ Like _Convergence_ is telling the story of the creation of the universe and _The Deep_ just speaks to how things are breaking and always will break. They’re both profound in their own ways, I’m sure.” He paused, putting his glasses back on his face, squinting at the computer screen. “This is Jackson Pollock, right?”

“Bruce, _you’re_ the one that pulled these paintings up.” The question was evident in Steve’s voice.

The doctor wrapped his arms around himself defensively. “Right. I just-”

“Are you okay, Bruce?” Steve asked softly, reaching out. Bruce flinched away. “Sorry,” he whispered. “I should-” he cleared his throat, eyes flashing up to meet Steve’s. “I should go. Pollock is fantastic, like I was trying to show you.” His eyes seemed a bit clearer as he looked up at Steve. It looked like he was listening to something. “And if you get a better opinion about, uh, Warhol, let me know.” He smiled slightly.

Steve watched as Bruce left. He closed his laptop screen softly and asked “JARVIS?” when the door shut. 

“How may I help you, Captain?”

Steve sighed, running a hand through his hair. “Why is Bruce acting like he doesn’t remember the majority of our conversation?” He got that three hours of talking was a lot, but still, people didn’t just forget their opinions, especially not someone as passionate as Bruce.

The AI paused. “It is not my place to say, sir. Dr. Banner’s business is his own.”

“Is he keeping secrets JARVIS?”

“Most definitely sir,” the program informed him dryly, if that were possible. “But as is everyone else on your team.”

“Thanks for the help anyway,” Steve answered, resigned. He plopped back down into his desk chair and tried to answer some emails from SHIELD, but his mind continued to wander back to the team’s doctor. Why would he forget something like that? It was a pattern Steve was noticing more and more: repeated conversations, misunderstood orders, changes in food preferences. And now this. What was going on with him?


	6. Chapter 6

The gym lights were already on.

“Hey,” Steve greeted, stopping the black punching bag’s swing back to the soldier.

Tony padded forward, his fingers grazing the cool leather. “What brings you down here so late?” he asked, coffee brown eyes shooting up to meet Steve’s.

Steve shook his head, breathing in. “Does Bruce seem weird to you?”

“Yeah. Yeah. He seems weird to all of us. What was it that got you?”

Steve frowned, “I- We were talking earlier, about art for a couple of hours. Then, all of the sudden he changed his opinion on this one painting, and when I backtracked, it felt like he didn’t remember anything that we were talking about.”

Tony cocked his head thoughtfully. “I’ve had a few conversations like that with him. When he first moved in, and when we were on the Helicarrier, he never did that. It’s like he’s slipping, now that he’s moved into somewhere permanently.”

Biting his lip, Steve asked, “Do you think we should say something? Ask him what’s going on?”

“Ask who what’s going on? Coulson?”

Steve and Tony whipped around.

“Bruce, what are you- Is everything okay?” Tony stepped forward, away from Steve.

“Yeah, I’m good. Everything’s good.” He shook his head. “What’s going on?”

But before either Tony or Steve could answer, something in Bruce changed. Ever so slightly, but he was now more rigid, he held himself straighter, his eyes hardened with confusion.

“That! That’s what’s going on. It’s like you’re here and then you’re not, and then the next minute, it’s you, but you’re hyperfocused on one thing and everything else just goes over your head. You want to know what’s going on? _We’re_ the ones who are in the dark here!” Tony exclaimed.

Bruce had moved back against the door. “I- I should go. Sorry.”

The elevator doors were already closed when Tony and Steve got out there. “JARVIS,” the brunette asked softly. “Where did Bruce go?”

“Dr. Banner is currently on his way to his floor. He does not appear to be at risk of running away,” the AI added, knowing where Tony was going next.

“Okay. Good. That’s my fav, ya know? Bruce not leaving. We should- we should go check up on his _Not Leaving_ status, right? That’s what friends do, isn’t it?”

“Sure thing, Tony.”

The engineer nodded sharply at the affirmation and began to climb the stairs.

Once they got into Bruce’s living room, Tony pulled up the live feed into the doctor’s bedroom. Bruce was writing in that bizarre journal planner thing from months ago that Tony had long forgotten about. “What it that J?” Tony asked.

“That is Dr. Banner’s privacy that you are attempting to breach, sir,” the AI chastised. "Although he has a message for you. I am sending the other Avengers now."

“You’re no fun,” Tony grumbled. There was a brief silence, before he screeched, “There! How can you not consider him getting ready to run?!” he demanded.

“What’s going on?”

“JARVIS said that Bruce needed to tell us something?”

Coulson, then Clint, stepped into Bruce’s living room.

“Where is the good doctor? I’ve been informed there is news!” Thor boomed, far too awake for the late night. Natasha stepped out from behind, silent and calculating.

"I'm sorry I lied.” Bruce’s voice surrounded all of the Avengers, but the man himself stayed in the bedroom, pulling piles of clothing out of the closet and setting them on his bed. “Or hid, or whatever. I didn't mean to scare you, that's actually what I was trying to do: to _not_ scare you all. I was just trying to keep everyone _safe_ , and I'm recording this because I think that at some point you guys could be trusted to keep them safe. The Other Guy can try all he wants, but he's too young to really get it or to do it well." There was a pause. "I guess I should just come out with it. The Other Guy- the Hulk- isn't the only other person, being, whatever, inside of me. And I know you're probably trying to break down my door right now to get more information, but I promise that I'll explain. The protocol me and JARVIS set up will play a second recording with more information once you're all in the Avengers briefing room and I'm in a safe place. I suggest note taking, especially writing down your questions, because it's going to be complicated and you’re not going to understand at first and you’re not going to be able to sympathize, but you’ll want to. Maybe. In my head, you will. Hopefully, you'll give me a chance to explain. Thanks." The recording stopped. All the Avengers and their handler looked at each other.

"JARVIS?" Tony asked softly, he watched on his tablet as the man he thought was Bruce moved stacks of clothing into plastic storage boxes.

"I suggest you listen to Dr. Banner, sir," the AI responded briskly. "He is in what constitutes a safe place, leaving the only requirement for more information to be the Avengers locating themselves in their planning center."

"But he's packing in there!" he argued, "He's going to leave and never come back, and-" Steve had been herding the others toward the elevator as this occurred, but now he was practically carrying the engineer, who was flailing about, trying to get back to his friend.

"Come on, Tony," he muttered, trying to be reasonable, but not letting his friend gain an inch.

"Sir, Dr. Banner is not packing."

"Then what the hell is doing with all those clothes?" he asked frantically, trying to get out of Steve's grasp even though the elevator doors had already shut on them and they were zipping down to the common floor.

"Confidential, sir."

Tony dropped his head back onto Steve. "This fucking sucks," he mumbled. Everyone else was silent.


End file.
